Transitions and updates...

very GRADUAL updates.

There's been one gear around here--GO.

In the last few months, I've been in the process of transitioning between three cities including an international move, which I am absolutely thrilled about. While I've been favoring the microblogging medium, here are the best hits while uprooting, initiating, uprooting, initiating, etc:

Just came back from the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, this year at the University of Victoria.  Presented at the Canadian Game Studies Association and Canadian Communication Association's annual meeting. Presented work on women's participation in video game communities, on a panel with a stellar international team Chris Paul, Mark Chen, Thorsten Busch, and Kelly Bergstrom where we discussed diverse debates in game studies.  It's been a stimulating week, having just come off the Feminists in Games Workshop held at the Centre for Digital Media in Vancouver.  

Got interviewed by Nora Young from CBC Radio's Spark, on the topic of Big Data and Social Games.  It's about 15 minutes at the beginning of this episode.  Take a listen>>

Getting going in a new position: Assistant Professor of Digital Communication, School of Communication, Loyola University Chicago. Details here>>

This Fall, I'll be teaching 2 courses: 1) Communication and New Media and 2) Game Studies.

More soon, as it happens.

Above: achievement unlocked.  I like the look of this badge.

CFP: InfoSocial 2013: Bridging Media, Technology and Social Science

CFP: InfoSocial 2013: Bridging Media, Technology and Social Science

A graduate student conference hosted by the Media, Technology, and Society (MTS) program at Northwestern University

InfoSocial is a student-run conference dedicated to showcasing graduate student research that is theoretically engaging, methodologically sound, and socially relevant. We welcome submissions that engage multiple ways of thinking as well as a wide range of methodologies.

Building on the success of the inaugural InfoSocial event held last year (which received more than one hundred submissions from over fifty institutions internationally), for this year’s edition we seek papers authored by graduate students that address relevant topics within and across disciplines, including contributions from communication and media studies, sociology, psychology, computer science, science and technology studies, information science, political science, and anthropology.
Topics include (but are not limited to) the following:
○      Gaming, online communities, and digital cultures
○      Human-computer interaction
○      Inequality, skills, and social capital
○      Information and communication technologies for development
○      News, entertainment, and audiences
○      Online behavior and privacy
○      Organizations, networks, and innovation
○      Social impact, policy, and regulation
○      Social media and big data
○      Youth, family, and the media

Important Information:
Extended abstract submission deadline: March 20, 2013
Acceptance notification date: May 15, 2013
Conference Dates: October 25-26, 2013
Location: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Conference URL: http://bit.ly/InfoSocial2013CFP
Email: mtsconference@u.northwestern.edu
To submit, please visit http://bit.ly/InfoSocialSubmit and upload an extended abstract with a maximum of 500 words. Participants whose abstracts are accepted will be required to submit full papers by October 1, 2013.

Note: There will be no fee to attend and/or participate in the conference. Meals will be provided and interested attendees may request to be housed with Northwestern students. While we can make no guarantees, we will do our best to accommodate requests.

Feminists in Games (FiG) Workshop Vancouver

**Note new deadline extended to February 28, 2013 for presenters and March 31st, 2013 for observers.

Open Call:
We are inviting submissions for participation in the 2nd Annual “Feminists in Games” workshop to be held in at the Centre for Digital Media in Vancouver, B.C. from May 31- June 2, 2013.

Participation and attendance at the conference is free. There is a limited amount of money allotted to assist presenters with their travel costs. If you wish to apply for this funding please include a short statement (no more than 100 words) with your abstract describing your financial need.
1) New Participants

We invite young and up-and-coming scholars and aspiring game designers as well as established practitioners in the field (including researchers, educators and industry professionals) to submit a presentation abstract of no more than 1000 words addressing the challenge of advancing gender equity in relation to the following areas:
- game design and development;

- game content;

- socio-cultural constructions of “gamers”;

- player communities and online play; and

- the games industry

- critiques of media treatment of girls/women/gamers
Proposals will be peer-reviewed, and applicants whose submissions are accepted will have the opportunity to bring their work into conversation with established feminist scholars and activists during a two-day invitational workshop.
2) Past Participants

We invite participants of FiG 2012 who received seed funding from FiG to present the findings/outcomes of their projects in a paper (maximum 3000 words) and/or multimedia presentation.

3) Observers

We invite members from the general public, the games industry and academia to attend keynotes and workshop roundtable sessions, and to lend their voices, perspectives and experiences to conversations and emerging initiatives that support feminist purposes and processes in games education, research, design and development. Although not required to submit/present formal papers, each observer is requested to participate in a ‘lightening round’ observer panel and will have five minutes in which to describe their an interest/challenge/question/project/game, that specifically engages with FiG’s mandate, the advancement, through all possible means, of feminists in games.

4) Other/s

The conference will include an opportunity to participate in a roundtable session aimed at generating a collaborative research project between scholars and industry professionals. Those interested in presenting may send abstracts of no more than 1000 words, outlining their research question(s), project/s and approach, to Rachel Muehrer (feministsingames@gmail.com) or Jennifer Jenson (jjjenson@gmail.com) by February 28, 2013. Those wishing to attend as ‘observers’ (this includes the industry round table) are invited to reply by March 31, 2013 with a description of your ‘lightning round’submission short statement about how attending might be of benefit to you (250 words).

Intercultural learning

It's been a steep learning curve over here, also including (but not limited to) writing my name in Arabic! Just some of the cool training going on with the Canadian Foreign Service Institute.

Happy New... Everything!

Hello, and bonne année from Ottawa!

2013 is off to a rolicking start already, with a new home, in a new city, in a new position.

The journey from Vancouver was pleasant, and I arrived in the winter wonderland that was Ottawa. It was also a nice treat to spend a few days around New Year's in Montreal with friends (who are so very close now culturally and geographically) before hopping back and settling into my new digs here.

Today was about meeting people, shaking hands, and putting names to faces of colleagues in this new space at the IDRC.  Lots of information and learning lots already about the exciting projects being funded by the organization, and specifically what I'll be doing with ACRE (pronounced "AY-KER", as in the unit of measurement)

Exciting times.

Best wishes from Constructing Amusement

Things are busy deconstructing 'round here, but thought I'd take a moment to wish everyone the very best of the holiday season.  Hopefully wherever you are in the world, you get at least a brief moment to take a breath and cherish your nearest and dearest.

Next entry, I will in all likelihood be busy reconstructing something--Ottawa side!

Be well, all.

Announcement: Ottawa bound. And acronyms.

I am super excited to announce that as of January 2013, I will be joining the Advisory Committee on Research Ethics (ACRE) of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. 

This research award has me spending my postdoctoral term in Ottawa: operationalizing a research ethics training program for those doing human subjects research through the IDRC; compiling, analyzing, and disseminating IDRC case studies on research ethics; developing the IDRC's relationship with the Secretariat on Responsible Conduct of Research; creating an inventory of research ethics boards and practices in developing countries; and analyzing the ethical principles/standards followed in local research contexts. Amongst such a fascinating cadre of researchers who do work in the international development space, I am pleased to be working closely with people like Michael Clarke, Chair of ACRE and Director of IDRC's Global Health Policy program.

There will also be fieldwork involved in a study I am planning and conducting on gender, ICTs, health, ethics and accessibility of information in the Middle East and South Asia. This position is an amazingly good fit, given my past, present, and future research concerning these very topics of inquiry. Going forward, the ethics surrounding human subjects research is becoming even more nuanced and something that institutions are increasingly having to reckon with. In my new role, I hope to be able to tackle these issues, and play a part in the formulation of the guidelines that have, and will influence a burgeoning body of research spanning three agencies (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC). 

With fewer than 8 weeks to go, preparations are now underway. More, as this story develops, soon. (File under: awesome).